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  WHAT ARE YOU PASSING DOWN
  by Shane Idleman
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of passing down valuable
teachings and qualities to the next generation. It discusses the
significance of obedience, trust in God, and the need to lead into
battle spiritually. The message also touches on the reality of hell and
the assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ, urging listeners to
call upon His name for eternal life.

Duration: 51:53 Topics: "Passing Down Faith", "Assurance of Salvation"
Scripture References: Matthew 1:21, Psalms 46:1, John 3:16, Revelation 20:15, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:13, Hebrews 13:5

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of passing down valuable teachings
and qualities to the next generation. It discusses the significance of
obedience, trust in God, and the need to lead into battle spiritually.
The message also touches on the reality of hell and the assurance of
salvation through Jesus Christ, urging listeners to call upon His name
for eternal life.

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CONTENT
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The middle of the message this morning is, what are you passing down?
What are you passing down? And I'm going to be in Matthew 1. Of course,
we're getting to the story of Jesus this time of year. What are you
passing down? And the reason I framed it that way is for two reasons.
Number one, this time of year, we pass down gifts that get dusty and
toys that end up in the trash.

Do we not? Me and my wife realized this many, many years ago, after we
moved to our, we were renting homes. Anybody hate moving? If it's up to
me, I'm never moving again. But every time we move, we go, I haven't
used this in three years.

We haven't, why do we keep hauling this around? So we gave a truckload
to Grace Resources and Goodwill and different places. And we realized
that a lot of what we purchase is in the backyard, destroyed in a couple
of weeks, or not even used or thrown in the closet. And maybe we
realized this probably a decade ago.

And it was funny when I made that comment last week that some people
spend $900 on a person. We don't even spend that for a whole family. You
know, be like, what, how do you do that? Like, well, we realized a lot
of these things are not going to be there in a couple of weeks or in a
month.

And then our kids watch us get in arguments over the credit card bill
that follows. And it's just this time of season is really not about
overexpending or overspending, things getting dusty, things ending up in
the trash. But what really matters is what we pass down that lasts, what
we pass down to our children, our grandchildren, to others.

So the question is, what are you passing down this morning? And before I
get to Matthew one, here's three areas that are so important this time
of year. We need to pass down wisdom in finances, amen? Our kids see us
spend too much and thank God too little. We also need to pass down grace
and humility with difficult relationships.

This is the time, usually in our homes, that gossip is very high and
humility very low. Challenging relationships, dinners, and get-
togethers, and people are watching us. So what are we passing down? My
mom told me many years ago that character, Shane, is not taught, it's
caught.

And of course you can teach character, that's what we do, but it's
really caught. Your kids will watch what you do. Your grandkids will
watch what you do.

Others, let me see the Christ in you. And that's what many people are
looking for. They wanna see the love, they wanna see the real Jesus.

And that's what kind of bugs me about modern-day Pharisees, or you see
people with bullhorns, or you see people getting upset at people, and
you're going to hell, and they're so hard with the word of God, but
people need theology, but they also need to see the love of Christ. You
need to pick someone up when they fall and then point them to the
scripture. I don't know if I've ever won anyone into the kingdom of God
through an argument.

They were loud, I was loud, and then they said, you know what, you're
right, let me repent right now. Isn't that true? It's usually through
that relationship, one-on-one time. Of course, when preaching is
different.

I don't talk to individuals the way I preach often. That would not go
over well, probably. But it's as they wanna see Jesus in us.

So passing down grace and humility, especially in difficult
relationships. And also a final point about passing down this time of
year. We need to pass down the fact or the image of making God a
priority.

Many times our kids see us put God on the back burner, and other things
take center stage. And this is a wonderful time of year to get to make
God the priority. One thing that is really good to do if you wanna
humble your kids, let them know that, hey, I want you to pick one of
your favorite presents, and we're gonna give that to a family in need.

Really, watch that little angry sinner come out. Rarr, rarr. But in
showing them, teaching them, because see, often they feel the pain, but
they understand why they're doing something.

And you're passing down character traits, especially this time of year.
So the theme still is, what are you passing down? Getting into Matthew
1. Matthew 1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham. And I'm not going to go through all the
different names there.

It'd be interesting, but something really stood out for me this week.
The Bible scholars will know this, but many people won't know this, is
that Matthew has the line of Jesus, all the way from Abram down to
Jesus. So does the Gospel of Luke.

And sometimes they're different in there, there's different names,
there's a different thread line there, a different, this person
recognizes this woman or this man. But this is what interesting, and
most theologians say, that Matthew is where Jesus's legal right is from.
So the legal right of Jesus being on the throne of David is from Matthew
and the physical, the birthright through the line of Mary comes from
Luke.

So you have all the lineage of Jesus and Matthew and Luke showing the
legal title to the throne and the physical title to the throne. And
although he wasn't born of man, born of woman, the Holy Spirit was
conceived Jesus in the womb of Mary. So technically, he still comes
within the physical boundaries of the woman on the physical side.

And they show how from Abram, everything that was foretold still came to
pass through the genealogy of Jesus. And you can see up there, number
one, the Messiah must be the seed of a woman, Genesis 3.15. So that's
the line of Mary. The Messiah is the descendant of Abraham.

We see that in Matthew and Luke. We see the Messiah must be the
descendant of King David. So all these things that were foretold, that's
why it's interesting if you talk to a Jewish person and you try to show
them the Old Testament things, there's like, blinders are on, a veil is
covering their eyes.

I even, I spoke with one yesterday about some of these promises. And
it's like, can't you read what I'm reading? And we didn't even go to
Isaiah, the suffering servant, no bones will be broken, the cows lots
for his garments, and drinking sour wine or the sour drinking, and all
these things that are foretold in the Old Testament. So I thought here,
what's Matthew doing? He's showing the promises of God being fulfilled
in scripture.

Here's the book in the genealogy of Jesus. So here's the first point I
would like to give to you. We must pass down the promises of God.

Pass down the promises of God. And this morning, I got here early with
my daughter and I prayed over her. And I prayed some of those promises,
God blessing her and watching over her and reminding our kids the
promises of God.

Did you know that the suicide rate is an epidemic in America? I've been
telling you that for many years. The suicide rate among teens, among,
why? Because they have no hope. There's no hope.

They're being fed by a media that is hell bent on destroying them.
There's little YouTube videos everywhere about how to commit suicide.
The music they listen to fosters suicidal thoughts.

And so they've got all this, they're being inundated by evil, inundated
by the works of darkness. So they lack joy, they lack peace, especially
in a Christian community. You can tell your kids, remind people, and
even others about the promises of God.

Well, like what, Shane? Well, if God before you, who can be against you?
That's a good one. You might wanna start there. Tell your children, you
have to keep reinforcing, but I told them that last year.

They heard it in VBS, Bible School in 2018. We need to hear it often,
don't you? If God before you, who can be against you? When the enemy
comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard
against him. When the floods and the fires come, son, daughter, he will
never forsake you.

We sang that song this morning around 7.15, it really stood out. He will
never forsake you. Oh no, Shane, that's not true.

God has forsaken me. No, he never will. You leave God, he doesn't leave
you.

God is just one heartbeat away from saying, come back to me, child. Come
back, I'm right there. He's never forsaking you.

We drift from him. So you can remind your kids of that promise. But mom,
dad, I feel distant from God.

He's nowhere to be found. I'm distant, but just call on the name of
Jesus and you will be saved. Call on that name and you will be restored
and rebuilt.

He will never forsake you. I need fresh wind and fresh fire. So do your
kids.

Remind them, remind them the promises of God. You know the old saying,
God said it, I believe it, that settles it. You know what, that's pretty
true.

And I've heard people mock that over the years. Well, Shane, you gotta
have an apologetic background. You gotta show them the consistency of
scripture and the hermeneutic approach, the theological persuasions.

I know, but at the end of the day, God said it, I believe it, and that
settles it. So you teach your children to rest in the promises of God.
Those who are in his hand, he will never cast away.

Those who know him, he will never forsake. And even if you don't know
him, son or daughter or grandchildren or friends or relatives, even if
you don't know him, all who call upon the name of the Lord shall, not
might, not someday, not he'll consider, shall be saved, all who call
upon the name of the Lord. See, those are promises you can take to the
bank.

I want my kids to experience the power and presence of God and my
grandchildren and others, don't you? I love what A.W. Tozer said, I
didn't write it down, I just remembered it, I hope I get it right. But
something like, I want the presence and power of God himself, or I don't
want to have anything to do with religion. That's why many people get
dissatisfied, because they've got this, well, I've studied this
religion, I've studied this religion, I've studied this religion.

Well, you've never met the risen savior, because that's not religion.
That has nothing to do with religion. That's God Almighty reaching down
and saving man, and now there's a relationship with him.

Don't you know that God is still moving? There's a song I've been
hitting rewind all week. It says, we are here for you, come and do what
you will do. We need a move of your spirit.

And they go on to say, mountains are still being moved. Tell your kids
that. Tell your, see, the problem is, we're so fearful and worried
ourself.

We gotta get out of California. We gotta get out of here. The world's
falling apart.

What's gonna happen? Anxiety and stress is everywhere. No, you tell your
kids that that same God of the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
that God, that God still moves mountains. He still breaks strongholds.

He still raises the dead. Did you know that? God will still raise the
dead. He will still do miracles.

He will save. He will draw. He will heal.

He will restore. That's the God we worship. We have to remind ourselves
of the promises of God.

If you said, you think I said one thing and all of that that is false,
talk to me afterwards, because that's the God of the Bible. I am the
same yesterday, today, and forevermore. I am the Lord thy God.

I change not. And people crack me up with saying they needed Him back
then like that. We have the Bible.

That's all we need. Poor church, poor early church. I don't know.

I think we need Him, maybe more so. Where can your kids or yourself turn
on a device where you get more wicked perversion than the early church
ever knew in their lifetime within a few minutes? Addictions are in
every corner. The enemy's having a heyday through the media, all this
influence.

We need the power of God today more than ever before. You have to pass
down the promises of God. And I don't care if you feel inadequate.

I don't care if you feel like you don't know enough about God. You can
still tell people about the promises of God. They might ridicule you.

Do you know that? I shared my testimony this weekend with somebody
within five minutes. I was just like, oh yeah, whatever. I'm glad you
found God.

But I guarantee seeds were planted because that's pride coming out. And
then when you get home in the stillness of night and the Holy Spirit
lets loose, begins to convict you. Why don't I have that experience? Why
don't I have that experience? And that's why I think so many people get
convicted even when I talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Because you can be a Christian. You can be a Christian and know there's
something missing. You can preach and know there's something missing.

You can get up in the morning and go, there's something missing. There's
something missing. I've not received that filling of the Holy Spirit.

I want what he's talking about. The promises of God. Oh, isn't that a
good promise too? I will send you a comforter.

I will leave and when I send you a comforter, he will, he will what? He
will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. That, did you know
that's a promise of God? He will overwhelm you with the power and
presence of God. And then verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was as
follows.

After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, much like it would be
today, an engagement was set up, a marriage was set to be in the future.
It's interesting here. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
before they came together, when the Bible talks about Noah knew his wife
or Adam knew his wife, it's that intimacy, that bond of marriage.

And so before, before Joseph and Mary consummated the marriage, they
weren't even married yet, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
Uh-oh, the Pharisees would run her out of church. You know, we need to
encourage people when they fall.

It's not the end. It can be the beginning of a new relationship with
God. If you fall forward.

But we see here the royal blood, King Jesus' DNA. Now, I'm not even
going to attempt to explain how this worked. I've read a lot of things.

I'm like, oh, that's a stretch. Well, the egg of the woman and the...
Who knows? We just know the Holy Spirit planted the life of Christ in
the womb of Mary. If you start to get... And that's actually why Roman
Catholicism will teach the immaculate conception or the perpetual
virginity of Mary, because they don't understand how that could really
happen.

So Mary obviously must have been a virgin all of her life. And she must
have been conceived, Mary must have been conceived without original sin.
Mary must have been sinless to bring forth Jesus.

Well, no, that's absolutely incorrect. Mary is sinner, but Christ is
conceived by the Holy Spirit, a pure, holy, going into the womb of the
woman. So she's not conceived by Mary and Joseph.

Mary was the vessel, the womb, that God used to bring Jesus into the
world. But in 1854, it was stated by the Roman Catholic Church that she
was preserved, exempt from all stain of original sin. So that's why I
don't understand people say, oh no, we don't believe that.

Well, the structure teaches that. They teach it, and that's why she's
lifted up. That's why she's elevated.

That's why they'll pray to her, because Jesus was without sin, so was
Mary. Jesus redeemed us, so did Mary, co-redeemer. They also initiated
this, and Pope Pius, I think it was.

And so, man, that would be a good point. Pass down good theology. Pass
down good theology.

Teach, give people good teaching on the essentials. Pass down good
theology. And then verse 19, then Joseph, her husband, being a just man,
this is interesting, and not wanting to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away secretly.

Okay, so what happened? Mary's pregnant. Joseph is more concerned with
her than him, and I wish I could give men around our nation this little
nugget of truth. If you're more concerned about her than you, you can
restore your marriage.

You can fix many marriage problems. So many times when I hear spouses,
especially I've known a lot over the last 10 years, get divorced that
are Christians, each one of them is usually concerned about protecting
their own image and reputation. My money, my reputation, what will
people think of me? But Joseph was mindful of her, and not wanting to
put her away, and he wanted to put her away secretly.

In other words, she's pregnant, this is gonna begin to show soon, amen?
That's one thing you cannot hide. And so, he was a just man. What does
that mean? Well, here's one thing I wanna pass down.

Pass down moral uprightness is what it means. He was a just man, he was
more concerned about protecting her reputation than his reputation.
Moral uprightness.

Let me just give you a tip for singles. How many singles are listening
online? We don't know, but I bet a lot. How many are here? Don't raise
your hand.

Unless you want to, then you point yourself. Hey, by the way, I'm
single. That's not a good reason to come to church.

I did that, I did that before I met Morgan, and I confessed to God, I'm
saying, Lord, I'm coming to church for the wrong reason. I'm just gonna
come to church. And then God brings you the right person, right? Anyway,
I don't even know what I was gonna say on that.

Okay, he was more concerned about protecting her reputation than his. If
you're single, especially women, he should be concerned about protecting
your purity. If he's one of those guys that says, I don't care, I'm not
gonna protect that area, watch out.

Because a sneaky fox while you're dating is a full-blown adulterer when
you're married. Be very careful in this area. Now again, if you're
convicted, that can be a good thing.

If repentance takes place, that can be a good thing. I believe in a God
who's not scared of your past. That's actually the message I'm giving to
the men on the 28th, on Saturday.

God is not scared of your past. God's not alarmed and shocked by your
sin. God's not in heaven going, oh, did you see what they did? I mean, I
can imagine.

I'm to a point now, I hope this, this won't sound wrong, I don't think,
please. Because it's not, I'm not trying, and I'm not hard, I'm not
callous to it, but I've come to a point where when people tell me,
they'll say, Shane, you're not gonna believe this, I struggle with, I'm
like, no, I've heard it all. It's there, it's in the church, it's in
every church.

God knows our struggles, God knows when we fall. Don't keep beating
yourself up, turn to Him. But you wanna pass down moral uprightness.

This word's interesting, morality. That's not a popular word today, is
it? Just post it on Facebook. Post it on Facebook and see what happens.

Morality comes from, here's why it's not popular. The word moral,
morality, is moral uprightness according to absolute truth. Because you
can't have morality without a morality, a person who gives morality.

So in other words, what is morality? That's what they say, what's right
to you is not right to me, it doesn't matter. But true morality, there
has to be a moral law giver, correct, how else would you gauge it? So
God is the moral law giver. His absolute truth is the gauge.

So when we talk about moral uprightness, it's walking according to God's
truth. That's where we get words like honesty, integrity, virtue,
character. Don't you love those words? Don't you like to see those in
our young adults? I love to see virtue and honesty and not being
tarnished by the world.

And it's just sad for me to see a 14-year-old or who looks like he's 40
because he's been so broken by the world and given her or him or their
bodies over and just been ravaged by sin. So Joseph was a just man.
That's something I think we need to pass down, moral uprightness, agree?
Especially in our culture today.

Agree? Do you know it's okay to stand up for truth? Stand up and say,
this is not right. This is not good. And that's why I think a lot of
people don't understand, especially going into 2020, although you might
not agree with where our current president in many areas, what is he
doing in this regard? What's he bringing into our country? Did you know
he's put in 180 conservative justices? 180, that's going to impact the
next generation because these are judges that look at the constitution
and they actually go off the constitution.

Many of them are fear God. That's a good thing. So a person's moral
character might not be great, but what they're doing and leaving for the
next generation is what is getting people excited today.

More on that later. I'm gonna read something from 1798. What do you
think? 1798, to the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division
of the Militia of Massachusetts, while our country remains untainted
with principles and manners, which are now producing desolation so many
parts of the world, should the people of America once again begin to
practice iniquity, this country will be the most miserable habitation in
the world.

President of the United States, John Adams. And then he goes on to say,
our constitution was made only for religious and moral people. It is
wholly inadequate for the government of any other.

That's what people don't understand. Our system of government works only
for a moral and religious people. Why? Because morality fits within the
parameters of the constitution.

That's why they're wanting, did you know there's big movements out there
to rewrite? Rewrite the constitution? Guess what's going in? Freedom of
speech. Bye-bye, freedom of speech. And let's add in hate preachers like
Shane Eidelman.

And rewrite the history. Rewrite actually bringing in lies and
destructive teachings. So that's what moral uprightness, it's passing
down what is good and God honoring.

Words like purity. What do they mean to a believer? They're wonderful,
but to the world, they mock you. They think there's something, oh,
that's Puritans.

That's way back. That's old fashioned. Remember what I told you a few
weeks ago that a reporter told Billy Graham, Billy Graham, you're trying
to bring the nation or the church back 50 years.

And he said, I'm not trying to bring them back 50 years. I'm trying to
bring them back 2000 years. See, that's what we need to get back to.

We need to get back to the purity and the whole. You want to be used of
God. You want to be filled with God's spirit.

You want the boldness and the fire of God. You want to see lives
radically changed and you better have purity and holiness and
righteousness and integrity and honesty at the forefront of your mind
and the way you live your life. Though you fall, you get back up and you
walk with integrity.

That word integrity is interesting. It means, it's integrous. It has
structure.

It has soundness. It's not gonna fall. It's not gonna go back and forth
with every wind of doctrine, with the trickery of men.

It's strong like an oak tree. And then verse 20. Verse 20, but while he
thought, but while he thought about these things, so Joseph is thinking,
oh, Mary's pregnant.

Do you think he was really believing her? I don't know how it happened.
I woke up. I tried that with our last child.

It didn't work. I don't know how that happened. And he's probably
wondering here, but what happened? He thought about these things.

Lord, this is, what's going on here? And he needed some assurance. So
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph,
son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. Wow.

And there's those people who say we don't need the move of the Spirit
today. We've got the Word. They also don't say you need dreams.

I mean, I'm not a big dreamer and visions, all these things, but I think
God still speaks to people the way he used to speak. He'll direct
people. Sometimes they'll wake up and have a dream that they need to
share something.

I taught on this a few weeks ago, but why wouldn't God still use the
same thing that he does? The argument is, but we have the Bible. Yes, we
have the Bible. I love the Bible.

It's all we need. It really is all we need. But we also have the
supplemental work of the Holy Spirit.

And I'm not gonna share examples. I already did in past messages of
where God has showed me things or done things like I'm sure he has in
your own life. And you're not gonna be able to turn to a passage and
find, oh, John Morgan, look, it says I'm to be a pastor today.

For example, I had that brewing in my heart. I was ignoring it. I had so
many people confirm it that week, giving what they would call prophetic
words, saying, have you ever considered God put this in my heart? After
six people in a week, I think Yvette, you're one of them, out of the
blue, like, who are these people asking me to be a pastor? My Lord.

Where did I take the Lord's name in vain again? People say, okay, I'm
watching it. Okay, let's rewind that. All right, Luke, let's edit that
part out.

So go back to, where was that? We have people confirming, confirming,
saying so many things. So see, God, I'm not gonna turn to a passage in
the Bible and get that. I'm not minimizing the Bible.

I'm actually maximizing the Bible because everything sits underneath
Scripture. And Scripture teaches that God can still speak to us through
many different avenues. There's revealed will.

There's his sovereign will. There's natural, just looking around, God's
will is clear if you look around in certain areas. So he said, do not be
afraid.

And she shall bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for
he will save his people from their, what? Sins. But I like this part
here. It really stood out.

Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. How many of us need to hear that
today? Not too many.

That's right, I forgot the 9 a.m. is a spiritual service. Let me ask
this question. Just kidding, that's gonna get me in trouble too.

I'm just gonna stick to my text this morning. Do not be afraid. So pass
this down.

Please pass this down. Pass down unfaltering trust in God. Unfaltering
trust in God.

We are building sometimes weak Christians in our families. We teach them
that Jesus is a butler. We teach them that everything will be good.

And don't worry when it gets tough, you're out of here in something
called the rapture. So they're unprepared for tribulation. They're
unprepared for the challenges of life.

But God says pass down an unfaltering trust in me. John Knox, one of the
reformers said, live in Christ and the flesh need not fear death. If you
live in Christ.

Isn't that, have you seen that before? The closer I draw to Christ, oh,
I'm not afraid of anything. But when the flesh comes in, for example,
during morning worship sometimes, you know, if I think somebody's gonna
shoot me, I don't care, I'm ready. But if I'm worried, you know, I'm
worried around, staying busy, you're fearful, I gotta buy a gun, I gotta
buy five guns, I gotta have a security system, you know, living in fear.

And that is one concern that I do have with Americans. I'm all for gun
rights. I'm not necessarily against that.

I've taught on that before. The media picked up my sermon and really got
me in trouble with some groups. But I believe in that.

But if you're trusting in your gun safe and not your prayer closet,
you're in trouble. Because so many people are trusting in their gun
safe, trusting in their AR, trusting in 1,500 rounds of ammunition, but
not trusting in the prayer closet. I'd rather be in the prayer closet
seeking God, having the, because when I'm in the prayer closet, when
you're in the prayer closet, you've got the armies of heaven encamped
about.

Who is going to thwart that plan? Will somebody might, yeah, God will
jam that nine millimeter and nothing will happen because there's the
power of prayer. See, if we could get the church back to praying as much
as they're buying guns, oh, we would see revival. Can you imagine the
news? Instead of four million people purchased guns this month, four
million people fell on their face before God and begin to cry out and
lift Him up and prayer begin to saturate the atmosphere and revival was
felt all throughout the nation.

Do you know if you read, if you read newspaper, they don't do it anymore
because journalism is now a political party and the media is now a
political party, but a couple hundred years ago, they would write about
moves of God's spirit. Even a hundred years ago, even Billy Graham, they
would write about God's spirit moving. I believe it was William Randall
Hearst.

He said two words. He said, pump Graham to all his newspaper outlets and
that's how Billy Graham got started, through the press. So teach them,
teach others an unfaltering trust in God.

Maybe you need that this morning. And this, I don't know, so much just
leaped in my stomach this morning. I mean, this week studying, for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And I just want to tell somebody this morning, if God has conceived
something in your heart, he will see it through. If God has birthed it,
if God has brought it, if God is doing it, he will see you through. It's
interesting, even with Jesus, Herod couldn't stop him, correct? The
Pharisees couldn't remove him and all of the world cannot silence him.

Nothing, who's gonna stop God Almighty? I love when we do that song.
Who's gonna stop God Almighty? The lion, did you know this? The lion has
already prevailed. He who is worthy has already opened the scroll and
the armies of heaven have already been summoned.

It's already been done. God's word, when you read it, it's already been
done. See, you walk in a position of victory.

Yes, we fight. Yes, there's a battle, but the battle's already been won.
Sides have already been chosen.

The lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. There is no erasing
history. When God says something, you can take that to the bank.

Don't trust in your 401k. Don't trust in the governor having your
security left or your retirement ready when you retire if you work for
the state. He wants to put a lot out to global warming now.

Be careful, who do you trust in? You trust in God Almighty, that
unfaltering faith. But Shane, I'm trying, what do I do? What you do is
you turn off the media. You might even wanna go somewhere for an entire
day and do nothing but seek God.

Get a cabin, get a house, get a, just nothing for a day or two. And I
think it was Landon Ravenhill said, if you do that, you bring a gallon
of water and the word of God, you'll either have a breakthrough or you
will break out and get out of there. The flesh will hate that.

You have to get back to that. You're not gonna be built up and
strengthened by listening to the media and the voice of lies and
deception all week long. It's impossible.

Absolutely impossible. In verse 22, so all this was done that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets. Isn't
that interesting? All this was fulfilled.

Nothing can stop God. Can you find one prophecy that has failed? Show me
afterwards, just one. Said, you know what, God missed it here.

Now there's a lot still that need to be fulfilled. That's why those who
believe, and I'm hoping at some point teach on the different views, but
those who believe in a millennial reign of Christ and I see it in the
Bible, I'm not against it necessarily, but the reason we see that is
because we see a lot of promises that have not been yet fulfilled. Now
with that millennial reign, they say that sacrifices will be restored
and that I don't get.

To me that doesn't, wait a minute, there's no need for sacrifices to be
restored. And there's division over, there's different camps in this
issue. So I don't wanna, my whole point was that when God speaks
something, when he speaks a promise, when he says something, it will
come to pass, it will happen.

Especially those things that are in his word and concrete. I don't know,
this keeps coming up. Maybe it'll help someone too this morning.

Sometimes I get discouraged because Shane Eidelman conceived something.
I think it's God and it's not and I get upset at God. And I talked, I
think a few months ago about presumption and genuine faith.

Because we presume certain things, don't we? I mean you have a good
idea. How many businesses have failed because we had a good idea? I
should tell you guys this, this is kind of funny. When God called me
back to him, 1999, 2000 right in there, 24 hour fitness, Virginia,
you're working actually in the same store I built and I saw my office,
my old office the other day from 20 years ago.

But he called me and I'm like, oh Lord, clear as day, this is what
you've called me to do. I even spent thousands and thousands of dollars
on a website, what works when diets don't or why diets don't work. And I
felt this is my calling for sure.

I'm gonna talk about health and fitness and I'm gonna weave in
scripture. God said, no, you're gonna preach scripture and weave in the
other. Within a year and a half, that whole thing fell apart.

Money's gone, like what happened with that? You almost got it, you're
close, you're close. You're gonna write books, but not those kind of
books. You're gonna speak, but not those kind of messages.

And see, sometimes we walk as we're trusting God, we walk by faith and
he guides certain, but you've gotta allow a little bit of flexibility
there between, okay, Lord, you show me and what am I doing? And what do
you want me to do? And God's still, come on, okay, Shane, you're going
in a kind of good direction, let me reroute you. So he will do that
sometimes. So see, God didn't fail me, I rushed ahead and assumed too
many things looking back.

You know, any type A personalities out there? Balcony? What does type A
like to do? Here's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do it today. I'm gonna
get it done, drives my wife crazy. She'll tell me something and I'm on
it right then.

No, no, no, I'm just talking, can we just talk? You know, I don't need
answers. You don't need to do anything, I just wanna talk. I was like,
okay, I just wanna do, I'll do it.

And so type A's have to just wait on God, but what's the other type D's
or whatever they are? The ones that are prone to not doing much, you
gotta step on the gas. You gotta say, Lord, get me out of my house, I'm
gonna go to the hospital homes, I'm gonna go minister, I'm gonna go help
the homeless, and you gotta put on the gas, I gotta put on the brake.
And God works through all that, but never promise that God has never
given me his filth.

And even in that, even in all the experience that he gave me through
those years, they were not wasted years, they were waiting years. And
God will do the same for you. Behold, the virgins shall be with child,
and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, who is translated
God with us, God with us.

Think about this for a minute. God, who is high and lifted up, rules
over the heavens, is the creator of heaven and earth, the creator of the
entire universe. Saturn, Jupiter, even there's galaxies, we don't even,
have you ever looked at how big the universe is? I got a headache.

It's the NASA photos and the Hubble, it's like, and that's us right
there, that little tiny, and there's millions, it's like, I'm just gonna
stick with what I know. But that God, Emmanuel, said I will come down
and dwell among my people to save them from their sins. And again,
talking to people, they don't understand, and to fully understand, a
created being, God cannot take a sacrifice to cover the sins of the
world.

That happened in the Old Testament, only as a temporary covering, did
you know that? The blood of bulls and goats were not the final covering
for the sins of the people in the Old Testament. We can take you through
Scripture and show you, they were waiting for the promise of the
Messiah. They were waiting for Jesus' final sacrifice on the cross.

So they were looking forward, we're looking back. So Jesus comes, the
perfect sacrifice, conceived with the Holy Spirit, without blemish. Do
you know even a priest couldn't minister that was crooked and bent over
or had blemishes? And even those priests couldn't even get close, and
they have to find an animal without any blemish to be the sacrifice of
the people, to be that Passover lamb that was slain in the Old Testament
as well.

But Jesus comes, this perfect sacrifice, born of a virgin, conceived by
the Holy Spirit. Somehow it was this life, this little heartbeat was
beating, this life was beating, this little child growing in the womb
that was a perfect, what, sacrifice. It's amazing, born to die.

Did you know that's what we celebrate? We see, born to die, 33 years on
the earth, never married, never born, never a child, except for this one
purpose, I have come. I have come to set my people free. I have come
that they may have life and have it more abundantly.

I was born to die. I will hang on the cross. Those nails are not holding
me.

My love for society is holding me. I was born to die. For this purpose,
I have been sent.

Oh, I might start preaching here in a minute, because the love of God,
the compassion of God that compels us to share the grace of God and the
mercy of God and to be filled with boldness when we go out in the love
for others. You need that combination. You have to have both.

You have to be bold, bold enough to look stupid, but have enough love to
not care. Just so you can relate, it's hard for me too. I'm sharing to
this guy who's an unbeliever.

He's coming, hopefully coming Sunday, next Sunday. And as I'm telling
him, I'm like, I know this sounds stupid to an unbeliever. You know, oh
sure, okay, here you go.

Woo, Jesus, born of a virgin. And I'm like, holy spirit's in you,
really? So see, but that's what your mind does, but you still have to be
bold enough to say, God changed my life. I was lost, but now I'm found.

I was blind, but now I see. I've experienced God, that boldness. When
they see boldness in love, you can't refute that.

How can you argue against those things? So pass down your relationship
with God. Pass down your relationship with God. You know we're gonna
need to do that more now than ever before.

Do you know what your grandchildren need, or your children, or others?
They need to see your relationship with God. You need to pass down
prayer and worship. Here's what else you need to pass down.

This is not gonna be popular in many churches, but it needs to be said.
This song this morning ministered to me. I would hit rewind 10 times if
I could.

I think it's Psalm 46. Lead us into battle. Lead us into battle.

Folks, we live in a time now where we're gonna have to teach, and help,
and motivate people, and lead ourselves into battle. This is for the
battle of the very spiritual soul of our nation. This is for the battle
of our families, the soul of our family.

This is a spiritual battle. So we need to lead people into battle. No
more this armchair quarterback, just sit back, wait for Jesus to return,
and just enjoy the good life.

Your best life now, that was passe. This is lead me into battle. It's
time to fight.

It's time to get on our face before God. It's time to fast and seek Him.
Let me pass down my relationship with God because it is precious.

If you go to all the countries around the world, you will see millions
dying for the things you believe in. They realize it's a spiritual
battle. And let people see your flaws, but also let them see the
redemptive work of the cross.

And then verse 24, then Joseph being aroused from sleep, did as the
angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife. And again, did
not know her until she had brought forth her first son. Now, here's
another.

Groups teach the perpetual virginity of Mary. This says, he did not know
her until after her firstborn son and that they had other children we
know in the Bible. And they called his name Jesus.

Now, I don't know if you caught this, but this is always good theology.
Do what God says. Did as the angel of the Lord said.

So pass down obedience. Pass down obedience. Isn't, you're passing down
obedience to a culture hell bent on rebellion, are we not? We need to
teach our kids obedience, teach our kids and grandkids and others to
respect authority.

Not if it's going against God's word, of course, but this rebellious
type of culture that's being passed down. It really starts in the
family. I know we got to close here in a minute.

And let me just give you this point. I gave it to you earlier. Your past
doesn't scare God.

Your past doesn't scare God. And I've talked to so many people who feel
that God can't use me now. If that were true, I would not be up here.

If anybody can say that, amen. God can use your past. Your past does not
scare God.

I'm gonna tell you something here that's very interesting. I mean, not
everybody agrees, but most theologians do. And this point is going to
upset many Pharisees.

If you trace, if we would have kept tracing the genealogy of Jesus, a
lot of you know this, but some don't. Did you know that in his line is
Rahab the harlot? Wait a minute. Did I hear you correctly? Jesus, the
line of Jesus, came from Rahab the harlot.

You look at the, you pass it down, it's Obed and Jesse and Rahab and
then David, and it's down to Jesus. I don't know why God did it, but I
think it's, I just love the fact that God, Jesus Christ, comes through
all these different types of people. And of course, he's not related to
the bloodline.

That's the big difference. There's not a connection with the blood DNA
for the life of the flesh is in the blood. I don't believe, this is
divine blood.

This is divine DNA, correct? D-ribonucleic acid. I forgot that for the
debate. I was gonna say that big name for you, but the DNA of Jesus
comes all the way through the Holy Spirit.

And that's why I wanna go back to verse 21, just for a minute. You shall
call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. What
does that mean? He will save his people from their sins.

Well, it would take a little while, but let me say this. This is where
this whole concept of hell comes up. And I wanna talk to you about this
just for a minute.

Did you know that we're more, we are warned more about hell in the Bible
than heaven? Look at it this way. Hell is separation from God. Heaven is
united with God.

So loving God doesn't just send somebody to separation. What the person
does is they say, I reject God. I don't want God to be my father.

I don't want the sacrifice of Christ. So there's a separation. It's
called hell, Gehenna, Sheol, Lake of Fire.

There's different meanings. I'd need another half hour with that too.
But you just don't wanna know.

Who cares what it's called? You just don't wanna go. So there's a
separation and there's this uniting with Christ. There is weeping, there
is a regret, there's a fire the Bible talks about that cannot be
quenched.

God's question says this. The Lake of Fire mentioned only in Revelation
is the final hell, the place of eternal punishment for all unrepentant
rebels, both angelic and human. It is described as a place of burning
sulfur and those who experience eternal unspeakable agony of an
unrelenting nature.

Those who have rejected Christ and are in a temporary abode of the dead,
right now known as Hades and Sheol, they have the Lake of Fire as their
final destination. That's what the Bible teaches. I have tons of
scriptural references on this.

But I noticed this morning something interesting. All five of our senses
are touched. There's a taste.

There's a taste, even in Lazarus' bosom, they said, let me just taste
the water. Let me taste something. My mouth is dry.

And also we see the smell, the smell of sulfur. There's burning fire of
touch. There's agony, there's a heat, there's a flame there.

The sight, it's unbearable to see and to hear. The weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Could it be that separation of God is you're left with
yourself? We don't know exactly where it is, but we know what it is.

It's a place where the worm does not die, that the fire is not quenched,
that there's eternal separation from God. And people say, Shane, but
that's gonna upset people. I'm not bringing my friend next week.

If you're gonna talk about this, well, you know what? I might, because
this is actually next week's sermon notes, this little Annie part.
Because people need to know, but Shane, but why they're gonna feel
uncomfortable. Exactly, exactly, you feel uncomfortable, so you change.

When I get a rock in my shoe, I'm taking my shoe off. We need to get
people uncomfortable again so they recognize that the God of the Bible.
But here's the encouragement thing, the encouragement, you don't leave
them there.

But, but, but, those names who are written in the Lamb's book of life
shall have everlasting life. All those who call upon the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. Did you catch that? All those who call
on the name of Jesus shall, not might, not maybe, not you might squeeze
in.

Let me consider it, take a number. Those who call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. So whose fault is hell? Whose fault is eternal
separation from God? God's fault? No, he's calling all men everywhere to
repentance.

He's beckoning the conviction of the spirit, the conviction of sermons,
the conviction of our own heart. Clearly his invisible attributes are
clearly seen, even creation screams creator. It's rebellious, prideful,
arrogant heart that denies God and they're left to their own
destruction.

That's it. No, don't clap, don't clap. That's, that's, I'm just telling
you, that's a God honest truth.

And if we would preach like that from the pulpits, you would see a
revival. Because, I think it was Spurgeon said, we need to afflict the
comfortable and comfort the afflicted. That's what preaching does.

It afflicts the comfortable, but it comforts the afflicted. But what
we're doing is we're offending no one. We're, here's the thing, this
breaks my heart.

We are embarrassed of God's word. That's what it boils down to. Many
pastors, many people are embarrassed for God's word.

It's almost like they have to apologize. Ah, no, that's all Old
Testament stuff. No, we love to quote Jesus, but he said, don't fear him
who can kill your body.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/ExZ_af0bHf0.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/shane-idleman/what-are-you-passing-down/
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